..where teens can learn to cook restaurant quality meals for the family
Spaghetti Bolognese – Pro’s Version!
This is likely to be the best spaghetti bolognese your family ever made. It's your opportunity to cook an impressive and really tasty meal!
ADJUST SERVINGS
Most of our recipes are for 4 people. You can check and adjust the serving size by clicking on the red number above.
BEFORE YOU START
This recipe tastes amazing. But you can make it even more pro and more Italian by switching the beef stock liquid for dry red wine! Obviously, run that by your parents first as not everyone will want it. But it adds another angle, and you can simmer away much of the alcohlic content leaving the flavour.
GET SHOPPING!
This is a reminder to check what ingredients you need to buy and add them to your shopping list. It’s good to do your own food shopping, but at the very least, you’re head chef, so send a family member out to the shops for you!
GET ORGANISED
Remember ‘Skill 2’ of the Big 5: Become super-organised.:
Add your own private notes:
Equipment
- 1 Large pot or deep frying pan
- 1 plastic spoon for stirring the meat
- Casserole pan (if you want to try finishing the sauce in the oven to be extra pro!)
- Large pot for boiling pasta
- Colander
- Cheese grater (for Parmesan)
- 1 chefs knife
- 1 Blender or food processor (or stick blender)
Ingredients
For the bolognese sauce
- 1.5 tbsp Olive oil
- 2 Garlic cloves
- 1 Onion
- 1 Small carrot
- 1 Small celery stick
- 1/3 cup Milk
- 500 g Ground beef (or a 50:50 split of ground beef and pork to make this like a pro!)
- 6 rashers Bacon (streaky is ideal but any will do)
- 200 ml Beef stock Make this up based on the instructions on the beef stock packet. Often it's one cube for 500ml water, so you might want half a cube to 250ml water)
- 280 g Sun-dried tomatoes
- 800 g Crushed tomatoes or plum tomatoes (In the UK 1 can is usually 400g)
- 2 tbsp Tomato puree or paste
- 1 tsp Sugar (optional, to taste)
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 sprigs Fresh thyme or oregano (or 1/2 to 1 tsp dried)
- Salt and pepper to taste (Remember, to taste means add a little and TASTE IT once mixed in! Then add a little more if necessary..repeat!)
- 2.5 cubes Beef stock cubes crumbled – no extra water needed for this!
- 2 Bay leaves
- 400 g Dried spaghetti Angel hair spaghetti works even better we think!
- Parmesan cheese Grated and for sprinkling over the top for serving
- Fresh parsley Finely chopped, for garnish
- Extra virgin olive oil Just a drizzle for serving
Instructions
Prep in Advance
- Mince or finely chop the 2 Garlic cloves and add to a bowl
- Finely chop 1 Onion and add to the garlic – see our how-to video.
- Finely chop 1 Small carrot and add to the vegetables
- Finely chop 1 Small celery stick and add to the vegetables
- Wash and dry the parsley (either spin in a salad spinner or just shake and leave to dry on kitchen paper)
- If using the 280 g Sun-dried tomatoes (they make such a difference!) blitz them into a paste using a food processor, blender or stick blender. You may need to add a small amount of oil from the jar to help them blend.
- Finely slice 6 rashers Bacon, either with a knife preferably on a plastic board (think food safety and cross contamination!) or using kitchen scissors. Put this aside on a plate or in a bowl
- Grate the Parmesan cheese for garnish and put aside
- Finely chop the parsley and put aside for the garnish later
Let's Cook!
- Take your main pot and put it on the stove. Add the 1.5 tbsp Olive oil and heat over a medium to high heat for a minute or so
- Fry the bacon for a few minutes. Knock it around the pan.
- Add the chopped onions and minced garlic, cooking and stirring with the plastic spoon until softened (takes a few minutes)
- Increase the heat and add the 500 g Ground beef (or a 50:50 split of ground beef and pork to make this like a pro!) cooking and stirring until browned
- Pour in the 200 ml Beef stock, and simmer it for a minute or two (simmering means letting it bubble away very gently! Not aggressively, OK?!)
- Stir in the blended sun-dried tomatoes
- Stir in the 800 g Crushed tomatoes or plum tomatoes and the 2 tbsp Tomato puree or paste
- Add the 1 tsp Sugar (optional, to taste)
- Add 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- Add the 2 sprigs Fresh thyme or oregano (or 1/2 to 1 tsp dried)
- Add Salt and pepper to taste (go LOW, adding a little of each, then mix and taste, and add a LITTLE more, repeat. Until it's right)
- Add 2.5 cubes Beef stock cubes just crumbled in
- Add 2 Bay leaves
- Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Set an alarm (or click the timer link here –>) to cook this for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.For a richer flavour, use a slow simmer for up to 2 hours, adding a bit of water if needed (consider asking your parents for their opinion on this). Time with heat applied changes the chemistry of the dinner which can enrich the flavour!
- Pour in 1/3 cup Milk and simmer for 10 more minutes
- For the pasta, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. That means add 2 or 3 pinches of salt. Add the 400 g Dried spaghetti and cook as per package instructions (or following our how to here) minus one minute for al dente texture. Drain the pasta once done, but keep back about a tablespoon of pasta water sitting at the bottom (no more!)
- Pour the pasta into the Bolognese sauce with a splash of the reserved pasta water, simmering until the sauce clings to the pasta
- Use a large spoon and possibly a pasta spoon to serve the meal into large bowls or plates
- Ensure that you serve it hot, and garnish with a drizzle of Extra virgin olive oil, Parmesan cheese and a sprinkle of fresh parsley if desired
Please share with us how you went!We need your feedback so we can improve the recipes and help others succeed! Please let us know by leaving a comment 🙂
After having cooked and prepared this, I finally got a chance to taste it and it tasted great and I really loved it! At first I thought it was going to be a little bit too liquidy, but then as I followed of the recipe, everything fell into place so make sure you follow it as accurately as possible, because in the end, it turns out just right!
So glad it went well, let us know what you want to cook next and we’ll get that ready for you!